Vandoren

Vandoren is a manufacturer of mouthpieces, reeds, and accessories for the clarinet and saxophone families.

Vandoren was founded in 1905 by Eugène Van Doren (1873-1940), a clarinetist for the Paris Opera.

The original location was eventually moved to 56 Rue Lepic, Paris, where his son, Robert Van Doren (1904-1996), took over the business around 1935 and designed the 5RV mouthpiece.

1945), grandson of the aforementioned Eugène Van Doren, took over the company and designed the B45 clarinet mouthpiece.

Bernard also introduced new machinery to the company, and moved the factory to its current location in Paris at Bormes les Mimosas in 1990.

[2] With the improvements in technology, Vandoren was able to increase production, becoming a major manufacturer of reeds and mouthpieces for woodwind instruments.

[3] Vandoren clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces are made of vulcanised rubber called ebonite.

Their cut is calculated to suit the characteristics of the German system clarinet mouthpieces.

[citation needed] In 1993, Vandoren began producing V16 reeds, also for jazz, which have a thicker tip and a longer pallet than the JAVAs.

[8] Vandoren has a large range of accessories for clarinet and saxophone: these include ligatures, reed cases, cleaning swabs, mouthpiece cushions and cork grease, and even instrument harnesses and neck straps.